Charles Duhigg The Power Of Habit Analysis

Do you remember the last time someone told you to brush your teeth? Hopefully, it has been a long time since you even thought twice about it because that once tedious chore has become a habit. Habits are apparent in your daily life in a multitude of ways; from the positive habits, like brushing your teeth and exercising, to the negative habits such as biting your nails. That being said, habits are essential to living a productive, healthy life, yet most people cannot recall when a simple action turned into a daily routine. Your brain uses a mechanism called habituation, which keeps you from processing every single stimulus around you and helps your brain to focus strictly on what is important (Pastorino, Doyle-Portillo, 2010). If you had to process every factor related to washing your hands every …show more content…
Consequently, your brain must begin forming habits to stay organized and focused during your daily life without you even realizing it. However, before you can form a habit, you need a cue or trigger, a reward, and lastly a routine. Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, calls this a “habit loop” (Castillo, 2014). So whether it is intentional or not, your brain forms almost all of your habits in three simple steps. Initially, before you can even begin to form a habit, you must encounter the behavior naturally and engage in it for the first time (Pastorino, Doyle-Portillo, 2010). Once this is complete, your brain needs a cue; which begins when you enter a particular location in which the action is typically performed, encounter a similar situation or object, or an individual related to your habit is present (Wood, Neal, 2007). For example, if you bite your nails one day while sitting in class the chances of you performing this action while sitting in class the next time, or even studying the material, is higher as a result of this association. Often times it is difficult to tell which aspects of an environment